Button feeding machine

ABSTRACT

A button-feeding machine for sequentially feeding buttons located in a hopper through a chute to a holder in which the buttons are held in proper position for attachment to a cloth article by a sewing needle. The buttons are supplied in bulk to a hopper where they are oriented and aligned in a chute and then positively fed from the chute to the holder, one at a time by a ram arm whose actuation is controlled by a machine operator.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Floyd Asnes Little Neck, N .Y. [21]Appl. No. 692,909 [22] Filed Dec. 22, 1967 [45] Patented Feb. 23, 1971[73] Assignee Alfa Industries, Inc.,

Little Neck, N .Y.

[54] BUTTON FEEDING MACHINE 7 Claims, 13 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl. 221/267, 221/270, 221/274 [51] Int. Cl. 865g 59/00 [50]Field ofSearch 221/156, 186, 267, 27.0, 274; 194/(P.D.)

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,193,918 3/1940 Chalmers eta1. 221/270X 3,042,255 7/1962 l-lalbreich 221/186 3,089,443 5/1963 Asnes22l/267X 1,032,389 7/1912 Elliott 22l/274X 1,134,305 4/1915 Wiesner(l94/P.D.)

Primary ExaminerSamuel F. Coleman Attorney-Darby & Darby ABSTRACT: Abutton-feeding machine for sequentially feeding buttons located in ahopper through a chute to a holder in which the buttons are held inproper position for attachment to a cloth article by a sewing needle.The buttons are supplied in bulk to a hopper where they are oriented andaligned in a chute and then positively fed from the chute to the holder,one at a time by a ram arm whose actuation is controlled by a machineoperator.

PATENTEU FEB23|97I 3,565,285

' sum 1 {1F 5 INVENTOR FLOYD ASNES ATTORNEYS PAINTED I 3565.285

QHEU 2 BF 5 F162 FIG.

lNVENTOR FLOYD ASNES aw /M 1 ATTORNEYS PATENIEU M23191: 3565.285

' sum u or 5 FIG. 7a 7 FIG. 7c

INVENTOR FLOYD ASNES Mg/M L ATTORNEYS PATENTEDFEB23|97| 3565285 sum 5 0F5 I g .97 2v a INVENTOR FLOYD ASNES ATTORN EYS BUTTON FEEDWG MACHINE Thepresent invention relates to apparatus for feeding buttons sequentiallyfrom a hopper into a holder where they are held so that they can be sewnonto a piece of cloth by a sewing machine. Apparatus of this type knownpreviously in the art have several disadvantages. First of all, thesequential feeding of the buttons from the chute to the holder is notdone in any positive manner but, instead, relies on the force ofgravity. When using only the gravity force, the location of the buttonin the holder is often improper and thus makes the sewing of the buttononto the cloth considerably more difficult and, in some cases,impossible. In addition, with many of the prior art machines, thebutton-holder position must be adjusted for each change in size of thebuttons being fed. Further, in prior art machines, the various parts ofthe button holder have been subject to bending and breakage.

The present invention relates to an improved button-feeding machine inwhich the foregoing problems, as well as other problems, are eliminated.In accordance with the present invention, an improved button-feedingmachine is provided in which buttons are placed in bulk into a hopper.The hopper is of a simplified and novel construction which aligns thebutton for feeding one by one into a chute. The chute is a two-piecemember which has a curved upperportion and a flat lower portion. Thespacing and alignment between the two chute members in the lower portionof the chute is adjusted by a novel gear operated, threaded pinarrangement. The spacing of the curved upper portion of the chute isaccomplished by a novel yoke and bracket arrangement.

The buttons aligned in the chute are fed one at a time under the controlof the machine operator by a novel ram arm mechanism which engages abutton and moves it in a controlled manner from the chute apredetermined distance into the button holder. In addition, the buttonholder is also of a novel and simplified construction and includes arigid front clamp member which operates in conjunction with aleafspring-type back member. The leaf spring is located at an angle withrespect to the chute exit so that clamping action of the button in theholder is provided for a number of different sizes of buttons withoutmoving the holder.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novelbutton-feeding machine in which the buttons are fed from a chute memberby the positive actuation of a ram arm.

A further object is to provide a button-feeding machine in which buttonsare aligned in a chute in a novel manner.

An additional object is to provide a button-feeding machine having atwo-section chute formed by complementary front and rear pieces, thedistance between the chute pieces of the first and second sections beingadjustable separately.

Another object is to provide a buttomfeeding machine having a novelbutton-holding member formed with a leaf spring.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become moreapparent upon reference to the following specification and annexeddrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view showing the general assembly of themachine;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the assembled machine;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view taken in cross section along I thelines 33 of FIG. 1 showing a portion of the machine;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a portion of the front of the machinelooking into the front of the machine along lines 4-4 of FIG. 3 showingthe arrangement for aligning the buttons;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the chute looking downalong lines 5-5 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the clutch and drive mechanism;

FIGS. 7a, 7b and 7c are views, shown partially broken away, showing theoperation of the ram finger and the details of the button holder;

FIGS. tie and 8b are top views, taken partially in section, showing thebutton holder and the ram finger;

FIG. 9 is a top view of the button holder; and

FIG. It is a front view of the button holder taken in section alonglines 10-10 of FIG. 9.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE MACHINE ORGANIZATION Referring to FIGS. 1 and2, the button feeding machine of the present invention is designed toaccept a number of headed buttons 10 having shanks 11 thereon in ahopper 20. The buttons 10, placed with any orientation in the hopper arealigned therein and progressed down a two-piece chute formed by rear andfront members 44 and 45, the latter of which has a track 42 therein toaccept the shanks. The distance between the two chute members 44 and isadjustable to accommodate buttons whose heads are of differentthicknesses.

The aligned buttons 10 are gravity fed down the chute 40 to its exit end41. From here they are positively fed one at a time by the action of apower driven ram arm 90 into a button holder 150 which holds the fedbutton with its shank in position for sewing therethrough alignedbeneath the needle 302 of a sewing machine 300. The positiveone-at-a-time feed of the buttons into holder 140 is operator controlledto place the button in holder 140 above an operator-controlled,vertically movable shoe-plate member 240 on which a garment or piece ofcloth is held. The operator completes a sewing operation by sewing theheld button onto the garment, removing the button from holder 140 andthen initiating another cycle to feed another button into the holder140,

The various components of the machine are described in detail below.

7 Feed Hopper Referring to FIGS. 1-4, the feed hopper 20 comprises acylindrical bowl 22 having a bottom wall 24. The bottom wall 24 ismounted on the upper, curved end of the rear chute member 44 so that itis slightly tilted with its exit aperture 23 adjacent the upper end ofthe chute 40, which in turn is connected to the main base support 46.The adjustable mounting of the rear chute member to base 46 is describedin detail below. The base member 46 has a flanged bottom piece forsecurely mounting the base to any support, such as a table. A pluralityof screw-mounted clips 25 are provided around the upper lip of the bowl22 to accept and hold a complete or partial cover or screen (not shown)if such is used to prevent the buttons from spilling out of the open topof the bowl.

A circular hub 26 is located in the bottom of the bowl and is mounted ona rotatable shaft 28 which is the output shaft of a motor 30 mounted onan extension plate 31 of the rear chute member 44. The motor 30 is ofthe continuously operating type and has a power cord 30a connectedthereto for connection to a suitable source of voltage, eitheralternating or direct current depending upon the motor selection. Theswitch for turning motor 30 on and off is not shown. The output shaft ofmotor 30 can also be geared to drive the hub 24 in any conventionalmanner.

A number of elongated fingers 32, illustratively shown as being three,are mounted to the hub 26 for rotation therewith. The fingers 32 aremade of a resilient material, such as spring steel, and they extendsubstantially completely out to the bowl sidewall so that no buttons canbe trapped between the ends of the fingers and the sidewall.

An adjustable curtain 23a is mounted on the inside of the bowl 22 abovethe exit aperture 23. The vertical position of curtain 23a is adjustableby a nut and bolt 23b which rides in a slot (not shown) in the curtain.The provision of the curtain is helpful in clearing any jams which mightoccur in the chute as the buttons are fed from the hopper into thechute. Also, the curtain 23a is needed to cover the unused portion ofthe exit aperture 23 as the thickness of the chute 40 is changed.

Button Aligning As the spring fingers 32 are rotated in the hopper bythe motor 30, they engage the buttons therein and move them around. Asshown, the hopper 20 is mounted at an angle so that the buttons fall bygravity and are moved by the spring fingers to the hopper exit aperture23 which is shown in greater detail in FIG. 4.

The two pieces of the front chute member 45, which form the track 42,extend upwardly for a short distance into the bowl exit aperture. Asseen in FIG. 4, the left piece 45 has a sloping shoulder 48 and avertical notched cutout 49 at its inner edge. The buttons arecontinuously rotated in the hopper by the fingers 32. If they arealigned with their shanks facing the hopper bottom wall 24 they cannotenter the track 42 formed by the front chute member pieces 45. However,if they are aligned with their heads on the bottom wall, then the shankswill fall into the track entrance defined by the sloping shoulder 48 andthe notch 49. If in turn the shank 11 of the button in the top of thechute entrance is aligned so that its larger dimension is vertical, theshank fits into the track 42 and the button falls by gravity down thechute 40 with its shank aligned in the track 42. If the button in thechute entrance is aligned so that the long dimension of its shank cannotenter the track 42, as shown for the top button in FIG. 4, then theshank is caught in the notch 49. As the spring fingers 32 rotate theyengage the head of the button in the entrance way and rotate it in thedirection shown by the arrow. The button is spun so that the longdimension of the shank can fall into the track and proceed downward bygravity feed. In this manner, the chute 40 is continually kept loadedwith buttons, as long as there is a supply in the hopper.

Chute As described previously, the chute 40 comprises a rear and frontchute members 44 and 45, the latter being formed by two spaced,elongated pieces to define the track 42. Both the chute members 44 and45 have complementary curved upper ends and, as also describedpreviously, the hopper 20 is mounted at the upper end of the chute onthe rear chute member 44.

To accommodate buttons with different head thicknesses, it is necessarythat the space between the top surface of the rear chute member 44 andthe inner surface of the front chute cover member 45 be adjustable. Thisis accomplished by a two-part mounting arrangement. As shown in FIGS. 2,3 and 5, the top of the main base support 46 terminates in a twoleggedyoke with legs 46a. The middle portion of the front chute member 45 isfastened by screws 47 (FIG. I) to the front faces of the yoke legs. Therear chute member 44 is mounted between the legs 46a of the yoke (seeFIG. by two screw threaded pins 50, there being one of such pins locatednear the top of the yoke and one near the bottom.

The rear chute member 44 is partially drilled with two threaded holes 51to accommodate the threaded pins 50 whose left ends extend through andare rotatable in holes 52 formed in the center wall of the yoke of base46. Each threaded pin 50 has fixed shoulders 53 and 54 formed thereon oneach side of the yoke wall to hold the pins from moving with respect tothe yoke.

The top threaded pin 50 has a drive gear 56 mounted thereon at the rearof the yoke wall which engages an idler gear 57 rotatably mounted on ashaft 58 which is held in a bearing 59 in the yoke wall..A drive piniongear 60 is in turn fixed to the left end of the bottom threaded pin 50inmeshing engagement with the pinion gear 57. A control knob 62 isconnected to the left end of the upper drive pin 50 so that as the knob62 is rotated, the gear 56 is turned. This in turn rotates the piniongear 57 and the gear 60 which is connected to the lower threaded pin 50.Thus, as should be apparent, rotation of the control knob 62 moves thetwo threaded pins 50 at the same time, in the same direction either intoor out of the threaded holes 51 in the rear chute member 44. Thus, thechute member is rigidly held by the two threaded pins 50 and itsdistance to the rear surface of the front chute member 45 is adjusted byturning the knob 62 in one direction or the other. This moves allcomponents, such as the hopper 20, and its exit aperture 23, withrespect to the front chute member 23.

As should be apparent, due to the fact that the hopper 22 is fixed tothe upper end of the rear chute member 44 and this upper end is curved,an arrangement must be provided for maintaining some degree ofparallelism between the front face of the rear chute member 44 and theinner surface of the front chute member 45 at the curved upper end. Thisparallelism is necessary since the distance between the front and rearchute members must be maintained substantially uniform throughout theentire chute length for the buttons to feed properly. The problembecomes particularly acute when the chute space is widened by turningcontrol knob 62, which effectively reduces the space at the top of thechute.

To provide the needed parallelism both elongated pieces forming thefront cover member 45 are split into a substantially flat lower sectionand a curved upper section complementary to the curved rear chute memberat point 45a. The two sections are held together by a hinge 45b ofspring material which is welded or held by some other suitable fasteningmeans onto the two sections.

The upper, curved, section of the front cover plate 45 above the split45a is made adjustable toward or away from the rear chute member 44 by asaddle 64 which is fastened to the top of chute member 45. As shown inFIG. 1, the saddle 64 has a slot cut therein to permit the passage ofthe shank of the button.

A bracket 66 is connected to each end of the saddle 64, these endsextending slightly beyond the edges of the front cover member 46 (FIG.1). A screw 68 passes through the rear of the bracket 66 and is threadedinto a hole 69 in the rear chute member 44. A retaining washer 67 isprovided on the inner face of the bracket 66. As the screw 68 isrotated, it moves into or out of the hole 69 with the upper ends of thebracket connected to the saddle 64 moving the connected front covermember 45 about the hinge piece 45b toward or away from the rear chutemember 44. Thus the correct spacing between chute members at the curvedupper portion of the chute is achieved by moving the front chute member45 with respect to the rear chute member through screw 68. The spacingat the bottom end of the chute is obtained by turning control knob 62 tomove the rear chute member with respect to the stationary front member.

To reduce any play between the rear chute member 44 in the front chutecover 45, a pair of rollers 76 (FIG. 3) are pro vided, one above theupper pin 50 and the other below the lower pins 50 of thechute-adjusting mechanism. As seen best in FIG. 5, which shows thedetails of one roller-the other being the same, the roller 76 isrotatably mounted in a bracket 77 which is connected to a threaded screw78, screwed into a hole 79 in the side of the rear chute member 44. Theinner face of one of the legs 46a of the base yoke 46 is milled out witha slot 80 therein to accommodate the roller 76. Thus, as the controlknob 62 is turned to move the rear chute member 44 relative to the basemember 46, the rollers 76 ride in the tracks 80. As should be apparent,the rollers prevent any play between the base member 46 and the rearchute member 44 and thereby between the front and rear chute members. Asmany of these rollers may be provided as needed.

Ram Armand Drive As shown in FIG. 1, the buttons fall by gravity downthe track 42 of the chute. The buttons are aligned in the chute so thatthey are all oriented in the upper part of the chute with their shankssubstantially vertical. The alignment of the buttons in this manner aswell as the adjustment of the chute spacing has been describedpreviously.

The bottom portion of the chute 40 curves to a substantially horizontaloutput end 41 so that at this output end the buttons shanks 11 assume asubstantially horizontal position. From the chute output they are to bepositively fed by the ram actuating arm one at a time into the buttonholder 140.

The ram arm 90, as shown in FIG. I, is an elongated member formed by twopieces 90a and 9012 connected together by a pin 900. The rearend of thepiece 90a is connected by a pin 92 to the bottom of a bellcrank lever81. The mounting of one or both pins 900 and 92 is preferably madeadjustable with respect to the members 90a and crank lever 81 so thatthe effective length of ram arm piece 90a can be selected. This controlsthe length of stroke of the ram arm. The upper end of the bellcranklever 81 is pivoted on an adjustable pivot 82, under the head of a screw83 mounted on an extension plate 85 which is connected to the mainsupport base as.

A power driven clutch 86 is also mounted on the extension bracket 85.The clutch has a head 86a with an eccentrically mounted pin 87 whichfits within a slot 81a on the crank arm at. The clutch input isconnected to the output shaft of a motor 88 mounted on the extensionplate 85. When energized by a suitable electric circuit (not shown),such as a microswitch or any other suitable switch under the control ofthe operator and usually operated by a his or her foot, the clutch 86 iscaused to turn its output head 86a through one complete revolution. Amicroswitch 89, having an actuating arm 59a, is also mounted on theextension plate 85 to engage a projection 86b on the drive head 86a ofthe clutch. After the clutch goes through one revolution, the projection86b engages the lever arm 89a to actuatethe switch 89 to break theclutch circuit. This insures that there is only one rotation of theclutch each time that it is energized. The clutch 86 and motor 88 are ofany conventional construction, one preferred type being Model 160 madeby Warner Electric Company of Chicago, Ill.

For each revolution of the clutch head 86a, the eccentrically mountedpin 87 moves down and then up in the slot 810 of the crank arm 81. Asthe pin 81a moves down, it moves the crank arm and the ram arm 90 to theleft to feed a button. As the clutch rotates to move the eccentric pin87 up and the crank arm 81 to the right, the ram arm 90 is retracted toits rest position.

The stroke of the crank arm 81, and thereby the stroke of the ram arm,is adjustable by moving the pivot 82. This is accomplished by the screw83 which permits the pivot 82 to be located at one of a number ofpositions determined by screwthreaded holes (not shown) on the extensionplate 85.

The details of the ram arm 90 and its operation to feed buttons is shownin greater detail in FIGS. 7 and 8. Referring to these two FIGS., theleft piece 90b of the ram arm carries a projecting finger 94 whose leftend has approximately a 90 bend in it to permit the finger end to ridein the track 42 at the bottom, substantially horizontal, portion of thechute.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the finger 94 is a separate piece havingupper and lower flanges 95 thereon which permit the finger to bepivotally mounted by pin 96 to the bifurcated end of the ram arm portion90b. The flanges 95 have tips 95a which engage a leaf spring 97 which ismounted on the arm piece 90b by any suitable fasteners such as thescrews 98. The arm piece 90b rides within a track 99a formed in ahousing 99 which is fastened to the bottom of the chute member 45.

As shown best in FIG. '7, a leaf spring retaining finger 100 is alsoattached to the housing 99 by any suitable fasteners such as the screwsI01 and this finger has a downwardly extending end 1102 which extendsinto the track 42 near the chute output 41.

Another spring member 106 is fastened to the top of the housing 99 by ascrew 107 to limit the outward movement of the finger 100. The end offinger engages the shank of the last button in the chute to prevent thebuttons from leaving the chute by the force of gravity. To put itanother way, it is the function of the ram arm 90 to move the nextbutton to be fed out past the finger 1% into the button holder member150.

BU'ITON HOLDER The button holder is shown in detail in FIGS. 7 through10. As seen in FIGS. 7, 9 and MI, a top plate 132 is held by suitablefasteners such as screws 134 to a milled out portion of the rear chutemember 44. Top plate 132 has an extending arm 1% which is cut with acentral slot 138 and has a milled slot 139 on each edge thereof. A screw142 with a wing nut I44 fits within the slot 138 and holds thereon arigid rear plate member 146 of the holder 150. The screw 142 is notshown in FIG. 7 for the sake of clarity. The rigid plate 146 has a pairof legs 146a and 146k which extend into the slots 139 to keep the platealigned.

A flat leaf spring 152 is mounted along a bent right edge on onesidewall of the back plate 146 by any suitable means such as by welding,soldering rivets, or screws (not shown). The leaf spring 152, as shownbest in FIGS. 7 and 8, is bent over the right sidewall of the back plate146 and extends at an angle to partially cover the front of back plateM6 and to be spaced therefrom in the area in which a button is to befed. As shown in FIG. 7, there is space between the leaf spring 152 anda front clamp plate 160 with the space being located opposite the outputend of the chute so that the button may be fed therein between the leafspring and the clamp plate 160. The clamp plate 160 is of generallyY-shaped construction with a pair of upper arms 160a and 160k which areheld, such as by screws 164, to bifurcated arms 136a and 136!) FIG. 9 onthe projection 136 of the top plate 132; The needle 302 of the sewingmachine passes through the space between the arms 136a and 13Gb and theclamp plate 160. A cross arm 160:: joins the two upper arms of the clampplate 160 and a depending arm 160d extends downwardly in a generallyvertical direction from the right hand end of the cross arm 1600. Aterminating arm 160e projects to the left from arm 160d.

The downwardly extending arm 160d is formed with a hollow bulge 161,such as by bending of arm 160d, so that the shanks of the buttons may bepassed within the bulge 161 as the ram arm is driven to the left. Also,the bulge 161 is large enough to permit the projecting finger 94 of theram arm to pass therethrough (see FIG. 8b).

The entire front clamp assembly 160 with its various arms are made of asuitable rigid material. There is no need for the clamp 160 to beresilient since all the resiliency that is needed to hold a button isprovided by the rear leaf spring member 150.

The operation of the button holder is relatively simple. The holder 150is moved to align the front clamp plate 160 generally with the frontcover member 45 at the chute output 41 by loosening screw 142 and movingthe rear plate 146.

It should be noted that the arrangement of the angled leaf spring 152simplifies the adjustment of the holder older since t is not necessaryto precisely align the rear chute member 44 with the spring 152 for eachdifferent thickness of button being fed. It is only necessary that thespring 152 be brought into a generally opposing relationship with thedischarge end 41 of the chute since for a wide variety of buttons ofsufficient thickness, the leaf spring 152 will be depressed sufficientlyand have sufficient force to hold the button against the front clampplate 160.

Operation of Ram Arm and Button Holder Considering now the operation ofthe ram arm moving a button into sewing position in the button holderI50, reference is made to FIGS. 70, 7b, 7c and 8a and 8b. FIGS. 7a and8a show the ram arm in the rest position awaiting energization of thebutton feeder by the operator to feed a button into the holder. Asshown, the projecting finger 94 is pivoted out from the track $2 withits rear edge cammed against the left sidewall of the housing 99. Inthisposition, the buttons in the track 42 are held by the projecting fingerwhich engages and holds the shank of last button in the chute, that is,the button which is to be fed into the holder by the ram arm.

When the operator energizes the clutch, the crank arm 81 is turned andthe ram arm 90 is moved to the left. As the ram arm 70 begins its moveto the left, the rear end of the ram finger 94 drops off the cam surfaceof housing 99 so that its projecting bent end portion under the urgingof spring 97 drops into the track 42 and engages the shank ll of thelast button E in the chute on its right side. The ram arm 11 continuesto move to the left pushing the button into the holder 150 a distancewhich is set by the travel of the ram arm. This travel is determined bythe adjustments 83 on the crank arm mechanism and is set so that theshank of the button is aligned approximately in the center of the spacebetween the two legs 136a and 136b of the top plate. The finger 94passes under the bulge 161 in the front clamp plate and deposits thebutton on the holder at this location, as shown in FIGS. 7b and 8b. Theforce of the finger is sufficient to depress the spring 152.

As shown in FIGS. 7b and 8b, only one button is fed at a time by arm 90.The remaining buttons in the chute are held by the spring finger 100 asthe last button in the chute is moved past finger 100 into the holder150.

In the retraction portion of the cycle, that is, when the ram arm 90 ismoved to the right, the projecting portion of finger 94 pivots over theshank of the last button now being held in the chute by the finger 100to clear this button. It is held in this outward position as shown inFIG. 80 by the camming action of the left end of housing 99.

The travel to the right of the ram arm 90 is limited during retractionby a spring biased detent pin 114 which is held within the housing 99. Anotch 116 is cut into the arm portion 90b so that as the arm isretracted'to the right by crank 81, its movement is limited when the pin114 drops into the notch 1 16.

It should be understood from the foregoing that the ram action insures apositive feed of the buttons at all times rather than just a gravity offeed. This arrangement reduces the jamming which occurs with purelygravity-fed machines. Also, it permits better clamping of the button inthe holder 150 because a stronger spring 152 can be used since thisspring can be easily depressed by the ram-arm action whereas it couldnot be merely by a gravity feed operation.

Shoe

The shoe 240 is of conventional construction and comprises an anvil 242mounted on a shoe plate 244. The shoe plate 244 is connected to anyconventional mechanism (not shown) which can be raised and lowered underthe control of the operator. The upward travel of the anvil 242 islimited by a stop plate 250 which is adjustably mounted by means of ascrew 25!) riding in a slot 254 which is attached to the back plate 146of of the button holder.

The raising and lowering of the shoe plate and anvil is shown in FIG. 7.As shown in sequence in FIG. 70, when the machine is at rest awaitingthe start of the next cycle, the anvil 242 is at its lowermost position.After the button is advanced into the button holder, shown in FIG. 7b,the shoe 242 is still in its lowermost position until it is raisedupwardly by the operator, as shown in FIG. 70. Here the needle 302 ofthe sewing machine can be moved downwardly to accomplish the sewingoperation on the cloth 260 held on top of the shoe. As seen in FIG. 7cthe sewing needle 302 passes outside the front clamp plate 160 andthrough the hole in the button shank to be sewn onto the cloth.

General Operation of the Machine The general operation of the buttonfeeding machine of the present invention may be described as follows.Buttons are loaded into the hopper at 20 in any desired quantity. Ifdesired, a screen may be utilized to prevent the buttons from beingspilled out of the hopper. The spacing between the front and rearmembers of the chute is set by the two step operation, control knob 62for the flat lower portion and screw 68 for the curved upper portion, toaccommodate the particular size button being fed.

The hopper motor 30 is turned on and the spring arms 32 rotate to pushthe buttons into the outlet 23 of the hopper where they are aligned bythe shoulder and notch 48, 49 (FIG. 4) on the front chute member 45 togo shank outwardly in the slot 42 of the chute. The buttons then falldownwardly in the chute 40 by gravity, the last button being held at theoutput end of the chute by the spring finger 100.

To initiate a cycle of operation of the machine, that is, to feed abutton from the chute into the holder, the operator depresses a switch(not shown) to energize the motor driven clutch 86. This moves the crankarm 81 pushing the ram arm first to the left and then to the right. Whenmoving to the left the projecting finger 94 of the ram arm engages theshank of the last button in the track 42 of the chute, pushes thisbutton under and away from the spring holding finger and into the buttonholder 150. The button is held between the front clamp plate 160, whichis substantially rigid, and the rear leaf spring 152, this springproviding thenecessary resiliency to hold the button firmly. The ram armretracts and as it moves to the right, the pivotally mounted finger 94moves over the shank of the last button now being held in the track bythe spring finger I00 and is cammed outwardly against the housing 99.The shoe 240 is then lowered and the sewing operation is completed onthe button which is in the button holder. The shoe is then raised andthe machine is ready for the next button-feeding cycle which iscommenced by the operator energizing the clutch 86.

The button-feeding machine of the present invention has severaladvantages. First of all, the hopper is of relatively simpleconstruction and the buttons therein are aligned in the chute track in anovel manner. In addition, even though a twosection track is used, theadjustment of the front and rear chute members is quite easy. Further,the buttons are positively fed from the chute for a predetermineddistance in accordance with the stroke of the ram arm to positivelylocate the buttons in the holder. It has also been found that themachine of the subject invention operates quite rapidly and at a reducednoise level.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described aboveit will be understood that this is illustrative only, and the inventionis limited solely by the appended claims.

lclaim:

l. A button-feeding machine for shank-type buttons comprising a hopperhaving a discharge aperture, a chute having an inlet end positionedadjacent the discharge aperture for receiving buttons from said hopperwith the shanks facing outwardly from said chute, a button holderadjacent the outlet end of said chute, means for controllably feedingsaid buttons from said chute into said button holder, said feeding meanscomprising a ram arm having an end with a spring biased portionextending inwardly for engaging the base of the shank of the last buttonin said chute, fixed guide means within which said ram arm travels,two-way drive means connected to said ram arm which drive means uponactuation operates to perform an uninterrupted cycle for reciprocatingsaid ram arm so that said inwardly extending portion engages the base ofthe shank of said last button and moves it from said chute into saidholder as said drive means moves said arm in one direction for apredetermined distance and for retracting said ram arm in a directionopposite said one direction as part of the cycle.

2. The machine of claim 1 wherein said drive means connected to said ramarm includes a rotatable member having an eccentrically mounted pin, alever having a slot therein in which said pin travels, means pivotallymounting said slot at one end thereof, means for pivotally mounting saidram arm to the other end of said lever, the rotation of said rotatablemember reciprocating said arm for said predetermined distance in each ofsaid first and second directions along the same line.

3. The machine of claim 1 wherein said chute has a track therein forreceiving the shanks of buttons, the spring biased portion of said ramarm comprising a finger on the free end of said ram arm which has acurved portion which extends into said track to engage the shank of thelast button therein to thereby move the last button into said holderwhen reciprocated.

pushing said last button past said holding means on its forward stroke.

6. The machine of claim 5 wherein said resilient means comprises a leafspring.

7. The machine of claim 1 further comprising latch means for engagingthe ram arm to stop its motion on the return stroke.

1. A button-feeding machine for shank-type buttons comprising a hopperhaving a discharge aperture, a chute having an inlet end positionedadjacent the discharge aperture for receiving buttons from said hopperwith the shanks facing outwardly from said chute, a button holderadjacent the outlet end of said chute, means for controllably feedingsaid buttons from said chute into said button holder, said feeding meanscomprising a ram arm having an end with a spring biased portionextending inwardly for engaging the base of the shank of the last buttonin said chute, fixed guide means within which said ram arm travels,two-way drive means connected to said ram arm which drive means uponactuation operates to perform an uninterrupted cycle for reciprocatingsaid ram arm so that said inwardly extending portion engages the base ofthe shank of said last button and moves it from said chute into saidholder as said drive means moves said arm in one direction for apredetermined distance and for retracting said ram arm in a directionopposite said one direction as part of the cycle.
 2. The machine ofclaim 1 wherein said drive means connected to said ram arm includes arotatable member having an eccentrically mounted pin, a lever having aslot therein in which said pin travels, means pivotally mounting saidslot at one end thereof, means for pivotally mounting said ram arm tothe other end of said lever, the rotation of said rotatable memberreciprocating said arm for said predetermined distance in each of saidfirst and second directions along the same line.
 3. The machine of claim1 wherein said chute has a track therein for receiving the shanks ofbuttons, the spring biased portion of said ram arm comprising a fingeron the free end of said ram arm which has a curved portion which extendsinto said track to engage the shank of the last button therein tothereby move the last button into said holder when reciprocated.
 4. Themachine of claim 3 further comprising means for pivotally mounting saidfinger on said ram arm to move the finger outwardly of the track on thereturn stroke so that the finger passes over the shank of the lastbutton in the chute.
 5. The machine of claim 4 further comprisingstationary resilient means for engaging the forward edge of the shank ofthe last button in the track for holding the last button in the trackand all other buttons therein, the finger of the ram arm pushing saidlast button past said holding means on its forward stroke.
 6. Themachine of claim 5 wherein said resilient means comprises a leaf spring.7. The machine of claim 1 further comprising latch means for engagingthe ram arm to stop its motion on the return stroke.